


Talk

by decrescendo



Series: Missing Scenes [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Canon Compliant, Gen, Missing Scene, POV Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 23:17:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11565399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decrescendo/pseuds/decrescendo
Summary: Remus and Professor McGonagall have a talk about Harry Potter.





	Talk

**Author's Note:**

> The first time Harry talks to Lupin in his office, Lupin says that Professor McGonagall told him about the incident with the Grim in Harry's tea leaves. This is my take on the context in which McGonagall might have told him that.

Remus knocked rather hesitantly on the door of Professor McGonagall's office, feeling absurdly as if he were fourteen again, about to be told off by his Head of House. 

"Come in," she called. 

She was still writing as he entered but put her quill down when he shut the door behind him. "Remus," she said, her surprise evident. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Good evening, Professor," he said. "I only wondered -"

"Sit, Remus, sit," she instructed him, drawing out the chair opposite her with a wave of her wand. He obeyed. "Do continue."

He cleared his throat and hesitated, still irrationally nervous. "I wondered whether you might - ah - tell me a bit about Harry Potter."

She surveyed him over the tops of her square glasses with an unreadable expression and he had to remind himself that she was his colleague, now, not his sternest teacher, to keep himself from squirming uncomfortably. 

"In what context?" she said finally. 

"Sorry?"

"Would you like to know about Potter, the student, or about Harry, James' son?"

"I -" He was glad that he did not blush easily, embarrassed that she had so clearly seen his reason for coming to her. "Both," he decided after a moment's thought. 

Professor McGonagall continued to look at him with that unreadable expression. 

"Unless you feel it would be inappropriate," he added quickly, averting his gaze. "He is your student, after all, and I understand entirely if you are not at liberty to discuss - and of course, my relationship with him is strictly that of teacher and student -"

"Remus," she interrupted him, a gentle reprimand. He looked back up at her and found that her expression had softened somewhat, her eyes kind. "By all rights, you should have been there to watch him grow up. I understand."

Remus could only nod. His voice, it seemed, had vacated him. 

Professor McGonagall hesitated a moment before beginning. "Of course you know already that he looks just like James," she said. "But he is, I think, far more like his mother in character."

"I think so too," said Remus quietly, and wished that the similarities between Lily and her son could bring him joy, rather than the dull ache he felt somewhere beneath his ribcage. 

Professor McGonagall gave him a look of understanding, as if she knew precisely what he was thinking. "I am sure you have realized, though, that he shares his father's propensity for trouble." She smiled slightly. "Although James' troublemaking was perhaps more deliberate. Harry, it seems, cannot help but find things out that he ought not to know."

"The Sorcerer's Stone," said Remus, doing his best to conjure up a smile of his own. "Dumbledore told me."

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "You can imagine my shock when he burst into my office, with his friends Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley, insisting that it was about to be stolen and demanding to see the headmaster." She paused. "Of course I regret terribly that I did not pay them more mind. I should have known Potter would do something foolish."

She looked rather older, suddenly, than she had a moment previously. "I worry a great deal about him," she said. "You know, Sibyll predicted his death from a cup of tea leaves the other day. The whole class was still shaken up about it when they got to Transfiguration. She does it every year, of course, and it hasn't come true yet - but I can't help but wonder, with Black -" She broke off sharply. "But of course you don't want to talk about that."

"I know what he has become, Professor," said Remus quietly. "I've made my peace with it."

"All the same, though."

After a long silence, Remus asked, "Does Harry know?"

"Hm?"

"Who Sirius - who Black - is."

"That Black is his godfather?" Remus nodded. "No, he does not."

Remus contemplated this, unsurprised but bothered by how little Harry knew of his own family and history. He had been stunned, upon waking on the Hogwarts Express, to find that he was sharing a compartment with James' son. He would not soon forget the piercing pain he had felt when he realized that Harry had no idea who he was -  _he_ ,  who had come to see Harry just hours after he was born, who had rocked him to sleep countless times while babysitting for James and Lily, who would have been, once Harry could talk, either Uncle Remus or Uncle Moony; Lily and James were in constant disagreement on that point. 

Now he was just Professor Lupin, and the thought made his stomach twist. 

Something of his pain must have shown on his face, because Professor McGonagall reached across the desk to place her hand over his. 

"It is better that he does not know," she said gently. "He has quite enough to be going on with as it is."

"Yes, of course," said Remus quickly. 

"He's quite the Quidditch player, you know," Professor McGonagall said. Remus could see clearly that she was deliberately steering the conversation into happier waters, and was grateful. 

He nodded, smiling genuinely for the first time. "So I've heard."

"I suggested him for the team myself after watching him make a rather spectacular catch when he was not supposed to be on a broomstick at all."

"That's James all over," laughed Remus. "I'm surprised you didn't punish him, Professor; you're slipping."

"Perhaps I have gone a big soft," she said, then the smile slipped from her face as she grew sober again. "Forgive me for saying so, Remus," she said softly, "but I imagine James and Lily would be quite proud of the young man he is turning out to be."

Remus lowered his head, brief happiness gone as quickly as it had come. 

"Goodness knows I am."

He was startled to hear that her voice had gone a bit thick and he looked up to find her eyes brighter than normal. "I'm sorry," he said awkwardly. "I shouldn't have -"

Professor McGonagall waved away his apology with a flap of her hand. "Not at all, Remus. Not at all."

Remus endured only a minute more of silence before he stood and made to leave. "I'll leave you to your work, Professor," he said, the steadiness of his voice belying the turmoil he was experiencing inside. "Thank you for your time."

"Of course," said Professor McGonagall. "And thank you."

"Professor?"

She gave him a faint smile but then looked back down at her papers and picked up her quill before speaking. "It is good to have you back at Hogwarts."

He attempted a smile in return. "It is good to be back," he replied. "Good night, Professor."

"For goodness' sake," she said, still without looking up, "I'm not your teacher anymore, Remus."

The abrupt change of tone forced a real smile from him. "Good night, Minerva," he amended, and turned and left the room.


End file.
